May Death Do Us Part

“How many barrels have you downed lads?” Prince Gareth asked the men, “I thought you’d want to catch up with the wives before we leave for Lenora.”

“After sleeping on empty beds for months, a woman’s touch may be too hard to handle sober,” Ozias responded with a smirk.

“Unlike Ivan here, we’d like to last more that ten minutes with our wives, so a few barrels are necessary,” Odran added on and the group chuckled in unison.

Adam sipped his ale not even wanting to ask about what they were talking about. Hearing them banter about how they would be pleasured by their wives in bed would be torture now that Melissa wasn’t here. Just like the good ol’ days huh, he thought to himself.

“So what took you so long your grace?” Beric questioned the handsome prince, “did everything go well with the queen?”

“Better than I thought it would actually,” Gareth responded with a satisfied smile. He sipped his ale again and then looked up at his men, “my mother was kind enough to give me her army to ride with us on our quest.”

“Oh..” Zander was surprised. Last he remembered the queen despised princess Melissa and every nosferatu alike. Was the prince really that convincing?

“So when are we to leave your grace?” Ivan asked sounding a little too excited, “the earlier the better you know, in fact I’m ready to leave right now. Just say the word.. please.. say it.”

.....

“Calm down Ivan,” Gareth responded, “I know how lonely you’ve all been on this journey and your sacrifice was greatly appreciated. So I want to give you some time with your beautiful wives. Especially you Ivan, seeing how Elena is so beautiful you must be just itching to jump on her.”

Ivan’s face darkened. Actually it was the other way around, he was sure it was he wife who was itching to jump on him, and he was terrified.

“Have you all met her yet?” Gareth spoke merrily, “Ivan’s wife Elena, she’s a real sweetheart and her beauty matches her heart.”

“Oh we’ve met her alright,” Odran mumbled behind his cup of ale.

“And we truly learnt the meaning of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’,” Beric added on causing everyone to snicker, all except Ivan who looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

“Exactly,” Gareth spoke, “she doesn’t let her looks get to her head, she’s a down to earth woman.”

“Speaking of women,” Roland commented, “looks like we’ve caught the fancy of the ladies on the next table.”

“No thanks I’m happily married remember,” Beric responded.

“Same here,” Odran and Ozias responded in unison.

“My wife would kill me if I as much as looked at another woman right now,” Ivan whined.

“Gosh you’re all such a bore!” Roland complained as he turned to prince Gareth.

“You’re better off asking us married folk than the hopelessly in love prince over there,” Odran joked.

Roland then turned to Zander and gave him a ‘you’re my last hope’ look, “I know you’re a brooding stick in the mud Zander..”

“Excuse me?!”

“But please you’re my last hope,” Roland pleaded, “I don’t want to spend this night alone while everyone else is getting lucky. And I know you wouldn’t want that either, so let’s go for it.”

Zander’s eye twitched in irritation as he listened to Roland talk, in as much as the man was a little drunk how dare he call him a brooding stick in the mud?! Was he though? Was he really brooding and boring? Did Vivian think he was brooding and boring?

“So what do you say?” Rolan spoke with an enthusiastic grin, “will you join me in my escapade?”

“Sorry Roland but I’m afraid I have to decline your generous offer for the sole fact that I am loyal to my woman,” Zander replied while casually sipping his ale.

“Your woman?!” Everyone at the table gasped in unison causing the bar to go quiet for a few seconds.

Zander slammed his cup on the table and glared at his friends angrily, “Keep it down, what the hell is so suprising about me having a woman?!”

“Wait,” Gareth spoke with a sly grin on his face that made Zander blush, “are you telling me, thee by the book Zander, Mr ‘I want nothing to do with the nosferutu’, has a nosferatu woman warming his bed?”

Zander ignored the question and continued sipping his ale while his face gave Gareth all the answers he needed.

“Zander you dog,” Gareth spoke with a chuckle, “have you been sleeping with my future sister in law?”

“Wait Vivian?!” Ivan gasped, it was the first time he’d shown emotion after the talk about Elena. Finally someone else whose love life they could pry into.

“The scary woman with the dark hair?” Beric asked trying to recall which one of the two nosferatu women was Vivian.

“Oh yeah the one who always looks angry, I remember her!” Roland exclaimed, “wow Zander you got her to bed?”

“She is not angry! And she definitely isn’t scary!” Zander yelled. Good lord this was so out of character for him, since when did he start getting so worked up. “Viv is a sweet beautiful woman, you don’t know her like I do.”

“Oh I bet we don’t,” Ivan smirked at the blonde elf. He traced the figure of a woman in the air and winked at Zander, “I bet you know her very well.”

Roland leaned back in his chair and ran his palm over his face with a sigh, “I don’t believe it,” he spoke, “so I’m the only one who has no one?”

“Would you like to trade?” Ivan suggested jokingly. But to some extent his friends knew he wasn’t kidding around after the story he had told them.

Before Roland could respond the three women who had giggling and stealing glances at them from the other table walked over.

“Excuse me...” one of the females spoke sweetly catching the attention of the men.

“My friend here would like to speak to you,” a brunette with brown eyes spoke to prince Gareth. She turned to her blushing friend and gestured her speak.

The woman inched closer to Gareth nervously and cleared her throat. Her face was as red as a tomato and little beads of sweat were visible on her forehead. “I... I think you’re...” she gulped before gathering the strength to look up at Gareth. Immediately she was held hostage by his deep brown hooded eyes that were curiously gazing at her. “I think you’re very handsome!” She blurted out, “would you please accompany me for a drink this evening?!”

Everyone at the table snorted a quick chuckle while waiting to see what the prince would say. Under normal circumstances it was unheard of for commoners to even as much as talk to royalty without permission, but since only a few people knew prince Gareth, she probably thought he was just some mere lord or something.

Sensing the man’s hesitation, the young woman took a step back, “I’m sorry, are you married?” A disappointed frown painted her face.

“Uuh.. no I’m not married but-”

“That’s wonderful!” The woman squealed and instantly covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry, I meant... well if you’re not married then we can grab some drinks together... right?”

Gareth glanced at his men hopping one of them would come to his aid but all avoided his gaze and continued downing their ale and bickering with one another.

~You traitors~

He turned back to the woman and cleared his throat wondering how he would explain his current relationship status to this woman and at the same time avoid hurting her feelings, “well you see-”

Just then, Finwe showed up out of nowhere and pat Gareth in the shoulder, “brother there you are, I’ve been looking for you.”

The three women gasped when they saw Finwe. They took several steps back and curtsied respectfully. “Your grace,” they spoke in unison.

Wait did he just call that other man his brother?? Did that mean... gods, that was the crowned prince, prince Gareth, wasn’t it?! The woman who had asked him to go for a drink felt light headed, she couldn’t believe she had just asked the crowned prince out on a date!

“Mother wishes to speak with you about your future wife and your child,” Finwe continued, making sure he emphasized the last part.

The woman felt like throwing up, gods this was so embarrassing. She bowed her head apologetically and squealed the words “I’m sorry your grace!” Before turning and running out of the bar, followed by her two other friends.

“Thank you Finwe,” Gareth spoke with a sigh of relief.

“You should really work on officially making Melissa your wife brother, especially if you’re too much of a gentleman to turn down a proposal from women,” Finwe spoke as he sat down at the table, “the women here won’t leave you alone unless they see a ring on that finger.”

“Well I’m not happy,” Roland complained, “those beautiful ladies were my ticket to having a good time tonight and you ran them off.”

Finwe looked at Roland before ordering his own cup of ale. “You’re a good looking man Roland,” Finwe spoke, “just hang around here a little longer and you should find a nice woman.... or man..”

Roland frowned and the other men burst into laughter at the statement. Roland’s feminine looks really did make it hard for him sometimes.